Vol.  IV 


No.  2 


THE 


INTERNATIONAL 
MONTHLY 

A  Magazine  of  Contemporary  Thought 


AUGUST,    1901 

1.  The  Political  Parties  of  France  Ch.  Seignobos 

2.  Music  in  the  Church  Louis  C.  Elson 


3.  Human  Perfectibility  in  the 

Light  of  Evolution 

4.  American  Primacy  in  Iron 

and  Steel  Production 


August  For  el 


John  Franklin  Crowell 
5.     The  Evolution  of  the  Mammalia  ( Concluded)      W.  B.  Scott 


6.  The  Economic  Development  of 

Western  Europe  Under  the  Influence 
of  the  Crusades 

7.  Recent  Work  on  Greek  and  Imperial 

Roman  Architecture 

8.  Brander  Matthews  as  a  Dramatic  Critic 

9.  Saintsbury's  History  of  Criticism 


Hans  Prutz 

Russell  Sturgis 

W.  P.  Trent 

H.  O.  Taylor 


BURLINGTON,  VERMONT,  U.  S.  A. 
148  College  Street. 

LONDON'  : 

The  International  News  Co.,  Chancery  Lane. 

LEIPZIG:  PARIS: 

G.  E.  Stechert,  Hospitalstrasse  10.  Brentano's,  37  Avenue  de  l'Opera. 


ui_^     :> 


%C/C  !  S 


The   International   Monthly 
August,  1901. 


MUSIC  IN  T^E  CHURCH 

LOUIS  C.    ELSON,   Boston. 

The  ancient  Hebrew  and  the  Christian  Churches  were  the  chief 
factors  in  giving  music  a  prominent  position  in  divine  worship, 
the  latter  following  the  former  in  the  matter.  Ancient  Egypt 
was  extremely  sparing  of  music  in  her  ecclesiastical  ceremonies  ; 
and  the  religious  rites  of  Imperial  Rome  were  notable  rather  for 
the  playing  of  various  wind-instruments,  too  often  mistranslated 
as  "  flutes,"  than  for  advanced  combinations  with  good  musical 
effects. 

From  its  very  beginning,  the  Christian  Church  made  music  its 
handmaid.  The  earliest  music  that  can  be  traced  in  its  worship 
was  a  free  improvisation,  borrowed  from  the  Greek  Skolion. 
This  latter  was  always  in  evidence  at  ancient  Athenian  banquets, 
and  was  a  spontaneous  outburst  in  praise  of  love,  or  wine,  or  the 
host,  or  any  subject  connected  with  the  feasting  and  merrymak- 
ing. In  their  gatherings  in  Rome,  even  in  the  first  century,  the 
Christian  converts  employed  a  similar  music  ;  but,  as  they  were 
far  less  educated  in  art  than  the  older  Greek  banqueters,  they 
often  borrowed  from  the  pagan  Romans  the  tunes  to  which  they 
set  their  roughly  enthusiastic  poems;  only  melodies  that  had  been 
contaminated  by  use  in  the  theatres  or  in  the  temples  were 
excluded. 

The  singing  above  described  generally  took  place  at  the  even- 
ing meal,  which  was  thereby  elevated  into  a  religious  service,  and 
these  "  Agapae,"  as  they  were  called,  find  their  modern  counter- 

Copyrigbt,  1901,  by  Frederick  A.  Richardson. 


MUSIC  IN   THE  CHURCH.  167 

part  in  the  "  love-feasts  "  of  the  Methodist  Church  of  the 
present.  The  music  was  in  direct  touch  with  the  Scriptures, 
for  Clemens  Romanus,  contemporary  of  St.  Paul,  states  that  the 
twenty-third  Psalm  was  most  frequently  chanted.  Exodus  XV. 
and  Daniel  III.  were  favorite  themes  among  the  different  Scrip- 
tural subjects  selected.  Extemporaneous  praise  of  the  new 
religion,  of  martyrdom,  or  of  sanctity  was  sometimes  added  to 
the  excerpts  from  the  Holy  Writings. 

This  free,  though  very  expressive,  school  of  singing  came  to 
an  end  with  the  establishment  of  a  Liturgy  ;  it  is  very  probable, 
however,  that  some  of  the  best  effusions  of  the  Agapae  were  pre- 
served, and  even  admitted  into  the  regular  service  of  later  times. 
"Fhese  fervid  songs  of  earliest  Christianity  were  unaccompanied, 
for  it  would  have  been  very  difficult  for  any  one  to  follow  the 
singer  in  his  untrammelled  chant.  Many  of  the  early  Christians 
(chiefly  of  the  humbler  walks  of  life)  were  unable  to  play  the 
instruments,  and  these  also  had  been  too  freely  used  in  theatre 
and  pagan  service  to  make  them  welcome  at  any  Christian  cere- 
mony. "They  convene  at  stated  hours,  before  sunrise,  and  sing, 
each  in  turn,  praise  of  Christ  as  of  a  god,"  says  Pliny  the 
Younger  in  describing  the  musical  service  of  the  Christians  of 
his  time. 

But  congregational  singing  very  soon  took  the  place  of  the 
solo  work,  and  the  earliest  ritual  of  the  Church  seems  to  have 
dwelt  more  upon  the  eftorts  of  the  chorus  than  on  the  work  of 
a  choir.  St.  John  Chrysostom  describes  this  chorus  work  in 
unmistakable  terms  : — 

"  The  psalms  which  we  sing  unite  all  the  voices  in  one,  and 
the  canticles  arise  harmoniously  in  unison.  Young  and  old, 
rich  and  poor,  women  and  men,  slaves  and  citizens, — all  of  us 
have  formed  one  melody  together." 

The  contest  between  the  paid  and  the  voluntary  singing  was 
not  far  off;  but  before  we  examine  the  later  development, 
it  may  be  well  to  add  to  the  above  data  the  following  facts  culled 
from  the  Fathers  of  the  Church.  St.  John  Chrysostom  assigns 
the  introduction  of  the  first  hymns  to  the   Apostles  themselves  ; 


1 68  THE   INTERNATIONAL   MONTHLY. 

Eusebius  states  that  St.  Mark  taught  the  early  Egyptian  Chris- 
tians to  chant  their  service ;  Tertullian  says  that  the  chants  in 
Rome  (probably  in  the  second  century)  were  given  in  a  grave 
and  deep  tone,  and  that  there  was  a  contrast  of  style  in  singing 
in  the  different  parts  of  the  service.  To  be  deprived  of  the  right 
of  joining  in  the  singing  was  one  of  the  punishments  that  the  early 
backsliders  of  the  Church  felt  deeply  mortified  at  receiving. 

As  early  as  A.  D.  320,  Pope  Sylvester  I.  founded  a  school  for 
the  training  of  church  singers  at  Rome,  and,  in  the  year  350, 
Pope  Hilary  combined  religious  music  and  charity  by  causing  the 
male  orphans  under  his  charge  to  be  trained  in  ecclesiastical  music. 

The  greatest  compliment  that  could  be  paid  to  the  musical 
training  described  above  was  given  a  dozen  years  later  by  Julian 
the  Apostate  (about  A.  D.  362),  when  he  endeavored  to  found 
similar  schools  to  train  the  Roman  youth  to  offer  music  in  the 
service  of  the  pagan  gods.  His  letter,  No.  56,  shows  plainly 
how  much  he  appreciated  the  value  of  the  Christian  music  at 
this  time,  and  his  effort  to  -establish,  for  the  purposes  of  worship, 
a  school  of  singing  at  Alexandria  would  have  given  a  new  beauty 
to  the  temple  services  of  the  gods  but  for  his  death  soon  after 
the  initiation  of  the  project. 

Since  we  are  not  writing  history,  we  may  pass  rapidly  over  the 
conflict  that  soon  followed  between  the  cultivated  solo  singers  and 
the  less  musically  adept  members  of  the  congregations  ;  suffice 
it  to  say  that  the  educated  singers  abused  their  privileges  so 
greatly  that  the  chanting  systems  of  St.  Ambrose,  circa  A.  D. 
374,  and  of  St.  Gregory,  A.  D.  599,  were  evolved  to  check 
their  unseasonable  display  of  vocal  virtuosity.  We  need  not 
dwell  upon  the  fact  that  the  Synod  of  Antioch,  in  379,  abolished 
the  custom  of  allowing  women  to  join  in  the  singing,  and  that 
the  Council  of  Laodicea,  in  481,  prohibited  any  but  the  clerks 
(Canonicos  Cantor  es)  from  lifting  their  voices  in  the  church  music. 

We  find  the  folk-song  reasserting  its  rights  in  sacred  music 
when  the  art  of  counterpoint  was  freely  launched  into  church 
use  by  the  old  Flemish  composers,  and  in  the  fifteenth  century  it 
was  a  constant  custom  for  the  composer  to  take  some  familiar 


MUSIC  IN  THE  CHURCH.  169 

folk-song  as  the  core  of  his  Mass,  giving  the  melody  to  the  tenor 
voice  and  wreathing  counterpoint  around  it  in  the  other  parts. 
This  practice  even  grew  into  a  sort  of  challenge  and  gage  of 
defiance ;  for  other  composers  would  take  the  same  melody  and 
work  it  over  in  more  and  more  intricate  fashion,  until  the  "Flem- 
ish tricks "  became  a  notorious  part  of  sacred  music,  and  all 
thought  of  fitness  and  of  reverence  was  lost.  In  such  rivalry,  the 
song  of  "L'Homme  arme  "  was  set  by  Catholic  composers  some 
hundred  times,  culminating  with  a  version  by  the  great  Palestrina 
himself. 

Luther  employed  the  folk-song  in  a  purer  and  more  fitting 
fashion.  As  he  wished  all  of  his  congregation  to  sing,  he  chose 
many  a  popular  song  to  lead  them  into  the  fields  of  music.  He 
is  known  to  have  answered  the  objectors  to  this  method  with,  "  I 
do  not  see  why  the  devil  should  be  allowed  to  have  all  the  good 
tunes  !"  A  pregnant  lesson  can  be  drawn  by  some  of  the  latter- 
day  "  popular "  hymn  composers  from  the  title  of  one  of  the 
hymn  collections  approved  by  the  great  reformer.  It  runs,  "Sol- 
diers', Sailors'  and  Miners'  Songs,  and  other  Street-songs  altered 
to  the  Service  of  God."  It  is  in  the  "  altered  to  the  service 
of  God  "  that  the  true  point  of  Luther's  music  must  be  sought. 
The  "  altering  "  consisted  in  fitting  the  most  dignified  counter- 
point to  the  folk-melodies. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  many  of  the  Protestant  clergy  persist  in 
ascribing  the  beginning  of  congregational  singing  to  Luther,  the 
citations  given  above  prove  that  the  early  Church  used  this  mode 
of  musical  worship,  and,  in  spite  of  the  decrees  of  Antioch  and 
Laodicea,  the  laity  among  the  Catholics  of  Germany,  even  during 
the  Lutheran  epoch,  had  become  thoroughly  used  to  singing 
together  in  divine  service,  and  were  even  encouraged  to  do  so  by 
the  priests,  who  introduced  "  Marienlieder  " — songs  in  praise  of 
Mary — into  the  ritual.  But  it  was  Luther  who  first  saw  the 
possibilities  of  church  music,  and,  if  we  dwell  upon  his  work 
with  some  detail,  it  is  because  this  devout  musician  may  be  in 
some  degree  a  model  for  the  church  of  the  present. 

Luther  fully   recognized   the  artistic    music    of  the    Catholic 


i7o  THE  INTERNATIONAL   MONTHLY. 

Church ;  he  had  been  made  fully  familiar  with  its  worth  as  a 
choir-boy  in  Eisenach.  In  1526  the  great  reformer  seems  to 
have  intended  the  perpetuation  of  the  mass  itself.  "Let  the  Latin 
mass,"  he  writes,  "be  used  by  the  young,  so  that  the  language 
in  which  so  much  good  music  is  found  shall  not  be  strange  to 
our  youth." 

Later,  however,  he  endeavored  to  incorporate  into  the  ritual  a 
musical  service  very  like  the  Mass,  but  to  be  sung  in  German. 
The  Kyrie  became  "  Gott  sei  uns  gnadig  ";  the  Gloria, — "  Allein 
Gott  in  der  H6h  '  sei  Ehr";  the  Credo, — "Wir  glauben  all'  an 
einen  Gott";  the  Benedictus, — "Gott  sei  gelobet  und  benedeiet"; 
the  Agnus  Dei, — "O  Lamm  Gottes,  unschuldig." 

Although  a  service  of  the  above  numbers  could  be  sung  by  a 
congregation  alone,  Luther  was  vehemently  opposed  to  the  dis- 
banding of  the  choir  ;  he  held  that  service  to  be  the  best  in 
which  choir  and  congregation  were  both  employed  in  musical 
numbers,  and  a  letter  written  by  him  still  exists  in  which  he 
adjures  a  church,  struggling  with  financial  difficulties,  not  to  dis- 
miss its  choir,  which,  he  says,  "  will  be  a  musical  model  to  the 
congregation." 

The  key-note  of  Luther's  strivings  in  sacred  music  may  be 
found  in  his  words  : — 

"  I  wish,  following  the  example  set  by  the  Prophets  and 
ancient  Fathers  of  the  Church,  to  make  German  psalms  for  the 
people  ;  that  is,  sacred  hymns,  that  the  Word  of  God  may  dwell 
among  them  by  the  means  of  song  also." 

Never  was  a  wish  better  or  more  thoroughly  fulfilled.  The 
grand  chorals  grew  out  of  this  idea,  and  they  went  far  beyond 
their  predecessors,  the  "Marienlieder."  "Ein  feste  Burg  ist 
unser  Gott  "  became  the  war-cry  of  the  wonderful  period,  and 
dignified  chorals  were  heard  in  the  school,  the  camp,  along  the 
highways,  everywhere:  the  music  of  the  Church  became  the 
music  of  daily   life. 

To  build  upon  simple  themes  would  seem  to  be  the  duty  of  the 
modern  church  composer  if  he  desires  to  take  the  Lutheran  lesson 
to  heart ;   but  this  by   no  means  justifies  the  introduction  of  taw- 


MUSIC  IN  THE  CHURCH.  171 

dry  tunes,  marches,  polkas,  and  other  jingles  forcibly  wedded  to 
religious  words,  into  divine  worship.  "Altered  to  the  service  of 
God,"  says  the  hymn-book  title  quoted  above,  and  this  alteration 
implies  that  the  best  musical  skill  shall  be  united  with  the  most 
comprehensible  of  melody.  The  loftiness  of  great  choruses, 
uniting  in  tunes  which  shall  not  be  beyond  their  capacity,  yet 
shall  be  worthily  musical,  is  a  point  of  the  ritual  that  composers 
and  choir  directors  must  study  from  the  time  of  the  Reformation. 

The  work  of  the  choir,  however,  can  be  studied  rather  from 
England  and  France  than  from  Germany.  The  fitness  of  artis- 
tic and  highly  developed  music  to  adorn  religious  service  had  its 
clearest  demonstration  at  the  Council  of  Trent,  during  the  prog- 
ress of  the  Counter-reformation.  The  extremely  florid  vein  of 
most  of  the  Catholic  church  music  came  up  for  consideration 
before  the  Council  at  its  twenty-second  sitting,  September  11, 
1562.  When  the  fanatics  would  have  swept  away  the  entire 
progress  of  the  preceding  centuries  and  have  returned  to  the  plain 
Gregorian  chant,  the  more  cultivated  cardinals  fought  for  the  art, 
and,  at  the  twenty-fourth  sitting,  reduced  the  opposition  to  a  mere 
vague  censure  of  "over-delicate  music."  Figural  music,  that  is, 
counterpoint,  was  finally  held  to  be  elevating  and  well  fitted  to 
religious  use. 

The  old  English  composers  have  given  to  the  church  repertory 
contrapuntal  compositions  that  should  be  far  more  assiduously 
studied  by  American  choir  masters  than  is  at  present  the  case. 
While  every  schoolboy  knows  something  of  the  "Elizabethan 
poets,"  very  few  understand  that  the  Elizabethan  period  was 
the  most  glorious  period  of  English  musical  composition;  indeed, 
if  one  eliminate  the  name  of  Shakespeare,  the  musical  epoch  of  the 
end  of  the  sixteenth  and  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century 
might  fairly  balance  the  poetic  one,  and  the  names  of  Farrant, 
Weelkes,  Morley,  Orlando  Gibbons,  Dowland,  Ravenscroft,  Bull, 
Wilbye,  Forde,  Tallis,  Tye,  Byrd,  and  of  others  as  well,  form  a 
good  counterpoise  to  the  roll  that  contains  Jonson,  Beaumont, 
Fletcher,  Bacon,  A4arlowe,  Sidney,  Spenser,  Massinger,  and 
others. 


17*  THE   INTERNATIONAL   MONTHLY. 

If  England  has  not  a  similar  roll  of  great  names  in  music  to 
offer  nowadays,  she  can  still  be  a  model  in  the  matter  of  execut- 
ing the  great  anthems  and  motettes.  Every  cathedral  throughout 
the  kingdom  becomes  a  school  of  sacred  singing  in  a  manner  that 
finds  no  counterpart  in  America ;  for  be  it  understood  that  our 
habit  of  having  a  musician  play  the  role  of  concert  singer  for  six 
days  of  the  week  and  then  transform  himself  into  a  church  tenor 
on  the  seventh,  never  gives  the  best  results.  If  only  some  coun- 
try could  go  beyond  England  in  this  matter  and  train  a  mixed 
choir  and  chorus  to  church  work  as  she  trains  her  male  cathedral 
singers,  it  would  achieve  wonders  in  the  field  of  ecclesiastical 
music. 

As  regards  the  employment  of  boys'  voices  in  connection  with 
the  choir,  we  can  also  learn  much  from  the  mother  country.  As 
a  rule,  it  is  the  Episcopal  Church  only  that  in  America  makes 
use  of  this  beautiful  adjunct  of  the  service.  Why  creed  or 
ritual  should  restrict  the  employment  of  music  is  a  mystery,  yet 
it  is  undeniable  that  the  boy  chorus  is  seldom  heard  outside 
of  the  Church  of  England,  and  that  the  orchestra  is  almost 
always  confined  to  the  Catholic  Church.  One  might  go  beyond 
the  boy  chorus  and  use  a  number  of  children's  voices,  male  and 
female,  on  occasions  of  especial  rejoicing.  The  late  Bishop 
Phillips  Brooks  was  always  enthusiastic  on  this  subject,  and  the 
present  writer  has  a  valuable  memento  of  the  great  preacher  in 
a  letter  that  expresses  his  delight  at  the  incorporation  of  a  large 
chorus  of  children  in  an  Easter  service  at  Trinity  Church. 

In  America,  we  are  but  slowly  emerging  from  the  results  of  the 
legacy  of  the  Pilgrims  and  the  Puritans,  who  clung  closely  to 
John  Calvin's  skirts  in  the  matter  of  music.  The  prejudice 
against  the  organ  died  very  hard  in  New  England.  The  first 
organ  in  Boston,  offered  to  the  Brattle  Square  Church,  in  17 13, 
was  unanimously  and  curtly  declined  by  that  organization,  and 
its  setting-up  in  King's  Chapel  (Church  of  England)  was  attended 
by  about  as  much  agitation  as  the  introduction  of  the  wooden 
horse  into  Troy.  As  late  as  1790,  a  wealthy  parishioner  of  the 
first  named  church  pleaded  for  permission  to  throw  an  organ,  which 


MUSIC  IN  THE  CHURCH.  173 

the  society  had  finally  bought,  into  Boston  harbor,  promising  full 
reimbursement  for  the  loss  of  the  instrument.  Park  Street 
Church,  long  after  this  time,  still  clung  to  violoncello  in  prefer- 
ence to  organ.  Why  the  Puritans  should  have  looked  upon  the 
violoncello  as  a  godly  instrument  and  shunned  the  organ  or  the 
violin  as  heterodox  will  probably  never  be  satisfactorily  explained, 
but  the  results  are  evident  in  the  frequent  leading  of  a  congrega- 
tion or  a  choir  of  to-day  with  a  single  non-harmonic  instrument. 
The  violin,  from  which  the  ban  has  now  been  removed,  the  cor- 
net, and  often  a  lusty-voiced  precentor,  leads  the  mass  of  singers 
as  the  bell-wether  leads  his  flock. 

The  question  of  what  the  ideal  musical  church  service  should 
be,  is  not  to  be  answered  ofthand,  but  surely  some  points  of  guidance 
may  be  gathered  from  the  historical  facts  already  cited.  In  the 
first  place,  the  musical  church  service  of  the  future  should  free 
itself  from  all  fetters  of  prejudice,  and  admit  every  form  of 
musical  art  that  has  been  used  successfully  by  any  denomination 
whatever.  The  boy  choir  should  not  be  suffered  to  be  a  matter 
of  creed,  nor  the  orchestra  to  remain  almost  entirely  a  Catholic 
institution,  so  far  as  the  church  service  is  concerned.  An  eclec- 
tic system  of  church  music  should  be  evolved,  in  which  every 
element  above  described  might  be  free  to  enter  in,  according  to 
the  exigencies  of  the  occasion,  and  limited  only  by  the  size  of 
the  edifice,  of  the  congregation,  or  of  its  purse.  Naturally,  the 
Catholic  Mass,  as  a  whole,  could  not  enter  into  the  Protestant 
Church,  for  it  is  fitted  closely  to  its  own  ritual ;  but  certain  of  its 
chief  numbers  could  be  employed,  if  given  a  good  English  para- 
phrase. The  mighty  choral  should  be  assiduously  cultivated. 
If  every  service  contained  at  least  one  broad  chorus  of  the  digni- 
fied character  of  "  St.  Anns,"  it  would  be  a  good  corrective  for 
much  of  the  jingly  music  that  obtains  in  the  United  States. 
But,  in  the  matter  of  choral  work,  the  organist  would  be  an 
important  factor  for  good  or  for  evil.  The  choral  should  be 
"  given  out  "  upon  the  organ  a  trifle  faster  than  it  is  intended  to 
be  sung,  for  every  congregation  in  Christendom  sags  a  little  from 
the   given  tempo.     The  organist  should  make  a  slight  hold,  or 


i74  THE   INTERNATIONAL   MONTHLY. 

fermata,  upon  the  last  note  of  each  phrase,  for  in  a  large  congre- 
gation the  stragglers  need  to  be  brought  home  as  often  as  each 
phrase. 

It  is  a  pity  that  there  should  be  any  difference  of  opinion 
regarding  the  mode  of  starting  a  large  chorus  in  church.  Some 
organists  begin  with  a  short  grace-note,  an  acciaccatura,  which 
is  far  too  sudden  a  signal  for  a  congregation  to  catch  up.  Others 
begin  with  an  arpeggio  effect  upon  the  opening  chord  of  the 
hymn  or  choral,  which  generally  brings  about  the  most  ragged 
attack  imaginable,  since  no  one  can  tell  exactly  when  the  upper 
note  is  going  to  be  sounded,  and  each  singer  will  come  in  more 
or  less  promptly  according  to  his  personal  equation.  The  sound- 
ing of  the  first  note  of  the  melody  one  beat  before  the  beginning 
of  each  verse  has  none  of  these  objections ;  nine-tenths  of  the 
congregation  will  sing  the  melody,  and  this  clear  and  fairly 
deliberate  signal  starts  them  with  surety  and  power.  After  the 
interludes,  such  a  signal  is  especially  necessary  for  a  firm  attack. 

As  regards  interludes,  much  may  be  said  pro  and  con  ;  the 
organists  have  undoubtedly  committed  many  faults  in  this  field, 
and  the  best  musicians  have  frequently  been  the  greatest  sinners, 
giving  the  right  thing  in  the  wrong  place,  that  is,  performing  feats 
of  harmonic  and  contrapuntal  skill  where  the  simplest  stop-gap 
was  required.  As  a  result  of  the  unexpected  fantasias  with  which 
some  organists  have  decorated  their  hymn  accompaniments,  many 
a  clergyman  has  set  his  face  against  interludes  altogether.  This 
is,  however,  jumping  out  of  the  frying-pan  into  the  fire,  for  the 
interlude  is  an  absolute  necessity  to  the  hymn.  It  ought  not  to 
be  regarded  as  anything  but  a  covering  over  of  the  few  seconds 
that  are  requisite  in  order  to  rest  the  lungs  of  the  singers ;  and 
that  interlude  may  be  called  the  best  that  attracts  no  attention  to 
itself.  That  the  few  seconds  of  recuperation  are  necessary  to 
the  lungs  of  the  choristers  may  be  practically  shown  by  taking 
any  hymn  of  moderate  length  and  going  through  it  without  an 
interlude. 

"  Sun  of  my  Soul  "  may  serve  to  illustrate  the  case  in  point. 
It  has  five  stanzas ;  each  stanza  has   sixteen  measures  of  music, 


MUSIC  IN  THE  CHURCH.  175 

making  in  all  eighty  measures  of  music  to  be  sung,  without  any 
rests  but  the  short  gasps  at  the  end  of  the  phrases  and  the  pauses 
(necessarily  not  very  long)  between  the  stanzas.  Hardly  any 
song  given  upon  the  concert  platform  presents  so  severe  a  task. 
Let  the  experiment  of  such  singing  be  tried  at  some  vestry  or 
prayer-meeting,  and  we  believe  that  every  clergyman  and  every 
member  of  the  church  committee  will  notice  the  difference 
between  the  bold  heartiness  displayed  in  the  first  stanza  and  the 
dragged-out  condition  of  the  singing  in  the  last  stanza. 

But  the  interlude  should  do  no  more  than  serve  as  the  neces- 
sary rest  to  the  singers ;  far  better  a  mere  repetition  of  the  last 
phrase  of  the  music  upon  the  organ  than  a  senseless  display 
of  musical  knowledge  in  the  field  of  modulation,  which  one  is 
too  often  called  upon  to  hear.  Every  interlude  should  grow  out 
of  the  music  itself;  a  concise,  coda-like  reiteration  of  some 
thought  contained  in  the  music  will  always  be  sufficient,  and  no 
interlude  should  extend  beyond  eight  bars.  Distant  modula- 
tions should  be  avoided,  for  they  not  only  interfere  with  the 
reverential  style  that  should  characterize  the  work,  but  they  are  apt 
so  to  disturb  the  singers'  sense  of  tonality  that  when  the  organist 
gives  the  starting-note,  for  the  subsequent  stanza,  after  a  bold 
progress  through  several  foreign  keys,  he  will  find  his  entire  con- 
gregation, and  sometimes  even  a  trained  chorus,  entering  timidly 
and  without  vigor. 

An  interlude  after  every  eight  lines  of  ordinary  tetrameter  will  be 
found  quite  sufficient  for  ordinary  purposes,  and  a  contrast  of 
major  or  minor  may  sometimes  be  permitted  to  rivet  the  thought 
of  the  verse  that  has  preceded. 

The  great  vocal  fault  of  America,  unclearness  of  enunciation, 
is  never  more  plainly  in  evidence  than  in  sacred  solos.  One 
might  be  contented  to  lose  the  meaning  of  some  of  the  verses  of 
the  average  drawing-room  ballad,  but  to  have  such  poems  as 
Newman's  "  Lead,  Kindly  Light,"  Lyte's  "  Abide  with  Me," 
the  refreshing  poetry  of  George  Herbert,  or  the  tender  thoughts 
of  Phoebe  Cary,  distorted  for  the  sake  of  a  little  fuller  high  note 
or  an  easier  emission  of  tone  is  decidedly  putting  the  cart  before 


176  THE   INTERNATIONAL   MONTHLY, 

the  horse.  One  cannot  expect  clear  pronunciation  from  a  con- 
gregation, but  one  may  demand  it  from  the  choir.  England  can 
teach  America  a  lesson  in  this,  as  every  cathedral  service  in 
that  country  proves.  In  America,  it  has  been  too  placidly 
accepted  that  vocalism  involves  impurity  of  pronunciation  ;  only 
in  America  would  an  invocation  to  «  the  God  of  Bottles"  instead 
of  the  God  of  Battles,  (we  heard  this  effect  once  in  a  sacred 
service,)  go  unreproved  and  underided. 

The  employment  of  an  orchestra  would  be  a  distinct  step  in 
advance  in  the  music  of  many  Protestant  churches,  but  many 
would  naturally  hesitate  before  entering  into  so  large  an  expendi- 
ture as  this  would  involve.  In  such  a  case,  the  musical  director 
might  rearrange  the  scores  of  some  of  the  less  important  works. 
Even  the  string  quartette  or  quintette  combined  with  horn  and 
clarionet  or  flute  would  often  form  a  fine  support  for  certain 
choir  numbers. 

In  the  composition  of  church  music,  as  in  almost  everything 
else,  the  supply  is  regulated  by  the  demand,  and  there  are  scarcely 
any  sacred  concerted  numbers  existing  between  those  that  have 
merely  organ  accompaniment  and  those  that  demand  full 
orchestral  support.  Yet  we  are  convinced  that  such  moderately 
scored  numbers  would  soon  be  forthcoming  if  choir  masters 
would  only  evince  a  desire  for  them.  The  mere  addition  of 
trombones  or,  much  better,  a  contrabass  to  a  fair-sized  chorus 
would  be  a  step  in  the  right  direction,  for  it  would  add  a  fulness 
to  the  fundamental  notes  that  would  lend  much  dignity  to  the 
more  solemn  numbers,  and  in  congregational  singino-  the  contra- 
bass would  strengthen  the  part  that  is  generally  weakest  in  the 
harmony  as  sung.  In  England,  the  contrabass  has  been  added, 
even  to  the  military  band,  in  certain  cencert  selections,  and  we 
should  cordially  welcome  its  entrance  into  general  service  in 
church. 

A  less  restricted  repertory  would  be  the  first  and  most  imme- 
diate result  of  some  of  the  changes  suggested  above.  The  best 
part  of  the  music  of  each  church  would  enter  into  the  service  of 
all.     Some  of  the  shorter  Palestrina  numbers,  "  O  Bone  Jesu," 


MUSIC  IN   THE  CHURCH.  177 

"Jesu  Rex,"  or  "Rex  Virtutis,"  for  example,  would  appear  with 
proper  paraphrases  in  English ;  the  orchestra,  or  some  of  its 
instruments,  would  be  used  as  in  the  great  Catholic  services  ; 
from  the  Anglican  Church  the  anthems  of  Purcell  and  of  the 
older  composers  would  be  borrowed  ;  from  both  of  the  above 
Churches  the  custom  of  stately  chanting  would  be  derived  ;  Bach 
would  prove  an  absolute  mine  of  beauty ;  the  hearty  congrega- 
tional work  of  the  Evangelical  Churches  would  be  retained,  but 
enriched  and  brought  nearer  to  the  ideal  of  Martin  Luther. 

This,  roughly  outlined,  should  be  the  church  music  of  the 
future.  It  seems  strangs.  that,  while  music  in  general  has  taken 
up  all  modes  of  expression  and  treatment,  church  music  should 
have  been  hampered  by  serious  limitations  and  should  have 
developed  only  in  special  grooves,  according  to  the  denomination 
that  used  it.  The  Catholic  Church  has  had  the  most  varied,  the 
most  artistic,  the  most  powerful  music,  simply  because  so  few 
limitations  were  placed  upon  it,  and  even  in  this  church  the 
grandeur  of  the  Bach  chorals  is  unknown. 

America  has  in  recent  years  made  giant  strides  in  general 
music  ;  the  contemptuous  European  saying  of  sixty  years  ago, — 
"Who  reads  an  American  book?", — could  have  been  applied  with 
tenfold  force  to  the  hearing  of  an  American  composition. 
To-day  we  have  great  composers  even  in  the  largest  forms  of 
composition,  large  symphony  orchestras,  renowned  string  quar- 
tettes, operatic  performances  equal  to  the  best  that  Europe  can 
hear ;  it  is  possible  that  it  is  reserved  for  our  country  to  break 
the  fetters  in  which  church  music  has  been  so  long  confined ;  it 
is  not  beyond  the  bounds  of  probability  that  the  American 
churches  may  yet  establish  a  musical  service  that  shall  contain 
within  itself  the  best  artistic  results  that  the  ages  have  brought 
forth  in  every  Church  and  in  every  nation. 

"But,"  asks  the  timid  Christian,  "would  not  such  a  service 
be  very  like  a  concert  ?"  In  a  certain  sense,  yes.  Nevertheless, 
a  Handel  oratorio  and  a  Bach  "Passion  Music"  is  also  like  a 
concert,  though  infinitely  and  deeply  religious.  The  miscellane- 
ous concert  and  the  secular  jingles  should  alike  be  denied  entrance 


178  THE   INTERNATIONAL   MONTHLY, 

within  the  walls  of  the  sanctuary ;  but  every  phase  of  the  differ- 
ent schools  described  in  this  article  has  but  one  purpose, — to  lift 
the  heart  to  God. 

There  is  one  matter  connected  with  this  subject  that  must  be 
touched  upon  before  concluding ;  it  is  the  fact  that  clergyman 
and  choir  master  are  often  at  cross  purposes,  and  too  frequently 
believe  that  the  success  of  one  minimizes  the  power  of  the  other. 
The  music  is  hindered,  instead  of  helped,  by  the  pulpit  in  some 
churches.  It  is  surely  unnecessary  to  say  that  the  music  is 
secondary  to  the  other  parts  of  the  service,  but  secondary  only 
in  the  sense  that  music  is  secondary  to  poetry :  its  object  is  to 
aid,  to  strengthen,  and  to  interpret.  The  combat  between  choir 
and  pulpit  began  in  the  second  century,  and  the  reforms  of  Greg- 
ory, Ambrose,  the  Council  of  Trent,  and  so  on,  only  mark  stages 
of  this  interminable  battle.  The  strife  would  end  in  a  most 
valuable  alliance  if  the  clergy  would  but  add  something  of  music 
to  their  actual  studies ;  Luther  would  never  have  evolved  his 
glorious  additions  to  the  ritual  but  for  his  practical  musical 
knowledge. 

It  has  been  said  that  music  begins  where  language  ends ;  it 
this  be  the  case,  it  can  carry  the  lesson  of  the  sermon  still  deeper 
into  the  heart,  and  waft  the  devout  prayer  a  little  nearer  to 
Heaven. 

"  Sweet  shall  resound  the  voice  of  joyous  singing 
As  fervent  worshippers  approach  the  Throne  ; 
And,  while  the  chorus  in  its  might  is  ringing, 
The  list'ning  soul  from  earth  to  Heaven  is  swinging 
On  wings  of  Tone. 

And,  when  the  mighty  organ  tones  are  pealing, 

A  lofty  message  shall  be  sent  abroad, 
Bidding   "  Be  still  "   to  every  sin-stained  feeling, 
While  the  rapt  heart  finds  every  phrase  revealing 

A  path  to  God." 


